Anytime you’re practicing renunciation, you’re deluded. How about that! You’re deluded. What are you renouncing? Anytime you renounce something, you are tied forever to the thing you renounce. There’s a guru in India who says, ‘Every time a prostitute comes to me, she’s talking about nothing but God. She says I’m sick of this life that I’m living. I want God. But every time a priest comes to me, he’s talking about nothing but sex.’ Very well, when you renounce something, you’re stuck to it forever. When you fight something, you’re tied to it forever. As long as you’re fighting it, you are giving it power. You give it as much power as you are using to fight it.”
Anthony de Mello, Awareness
Sometimes there is a paradox in our focus. We focus on what not to do, and there is what our attention draws toward.
Jesus knew that. He taught that we follow where our heart leads, not necessarily what the Law says or what people tell us to do. Paul knew that. He taught in Romans that a problem of the Law was that we focus on it instead of the Spirit.
We become what we think about.
We can choose where to place our focus. But that takes work. And courage. And often we don’t want to work. The easy road beckons.
Therein lies the power of daily morning routines. Rise, fix our coffee or tea, focus on God for a period of time, then focus on what we wish to accomplish with these next 16 hours, and now we shall not drift aimlessly during the day.
Faith Venture 
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